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TROUBLES
“call”, a call of quite a low-class evangelical kind. [...]
Underneath its more obvious aims, running through them
and linking them together, is another less tangible one,
which may be described by the words, visual re-education'.
IN THEORY T h e E d it o r s , The A r c h ite c tu r a l R eview . J a n u a r y 1 9 4 7 .
7 8 A R i JA N U A R Y 2012
D u rin g th e W ar, th e A R ran
s e v eral su rveys o f bom b
dam age to bu ildings 'o f
2. T h e End of L a s t Time
a r c h ite c tu r a l im p o rta n c e '.
P h o to g ra p h s and draw ings
o f sm o k in g ru in s w e re
o fte n a c co m p a n ied by
s u rp ris in g ly ly ric a l prose. I O \ l» » \
F U S T I NSTALMENT OF A S 0 1 T E T
H e n c e 'th e P ic tu re s q u e
OF B OMB DAMAGE TO B01 LDIN6 S
w as a llie d to th e te r r ib le
OF A R C H I T E C T 0 RAL I MPORTANCE
S u b lim e and pressed in to
th e se rv ic e s o f v is u al
r e -e d u c a tio n '. T h is sp read sm- ilut U i- nii4r«lm (
r\ mm ll <vri-|M in a lr»
is fro m J u ly 1941. T h e $ f«~lU i', Th* lrihnir.il
'p o s t-m o d e rn ' p rin c ip le s il <Umus< In bnmhlnK Hj- »ri
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■immlu- in rflint* m ol V r VI4- -W'h »• «h«' ••InmiWr.Uivr ami Ircv-lathr
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AR | JANUARY 2012 79
THEORY
From its 'w ar address' in However, the principles outlined in ‘The Second Half
Cheam, the AR surveys a Century’, had in fact been developed by Hubert de Cronin
brave new post-w ar world Hastings writing as ‘The Editor’ in February 1944 under
in August I9 4 S
the title ‘Exterior Furnishing or Sharawaggi: the Art of
Making Urban Landscape’. Here, Hastings harked back
to ‘the time of Ebeneezer Howard and Raymond Unwin’
and the image of the garden city, whence derived the
image of the popular picture of the ‘semi-Tudor’, which
maintained traction 50 years later.
Hastings noted that England was no longer looked to
as ‘head of international inspiration in architecture’ as it
had been at the time of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Planners had ‘failed to provide an alternative picture
comparable in realism, vividness or simplicity’, while
technological, or transportation-based, models of the
culture could not sustain ‘Mr Brown’ who ‘wants a picture
of the kind of world the physical planner will make, and
up to date has been given nothing between Port Sunlight
and MARS’. There was, Hastings argued, a serious need
for ‘a picture’ that would ‘reconcile visually in the mind’s
eye what appear to be irreconcilable elements in any town
plan: quaint bits, new bits, monuments, traffic, tall
buildings, short buildings, flat blocks, individual cottages.’
Thus he advanced a solution, ‘Picturesque Theory’,
as it evolved in England during the 18th century and
H o ln m r £ in r t u d ig ljt
was internationalised in the early 19th century. ‘What sh 4
M o dels fo r th e P icturesque
In a masterstroke of prospective nostalgia, Hastings
concluded by taking as his model for such theory, that of
Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight, as described in
Christopher Hussey’s ‘The Picturesque’. The art of the
Landscape Picturesque was, he claimed, identical to what
the Chinese called ‘Sharawaggi’ or irregular gardening.
Landscape should be observed with the painter’s eye
(he cited Claude Lorrain, Salvator Rosa, John Piper, John
Nash, Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Christopher Wood,
Kenneth Rowntree - painters o f‘urban scenery’) against
those who see ‘the new Jerusalem all open space and
concrete’. This series of dialectical photographs, would
lead, he hoped, to a ‘visual policy for urban landscape’,
one that was ‘natural to the English temperament’. He
concluded: ‘Any time he so desires the modern town-
planner is free to pick up Picturesque theory at the point
before its corruption by the Gothic Revival; pick up the
theory, rediscover its prophets, and apply the principles.’
8 0 A R I JA N U A R Y 2012
‘What we need to do now,’ Perhaps the most dramatic of these early appeals
to the Picturesque, was published immediately following
Hubert de Cronin Hastings the London blitz and entitled ‘The Architecture of
Destruction’. An introduction by the artist John Piper
suggested, is ‘to resurrect the sketched the impression ofLondon s ruins: ‘Roads
theory of the Picturesque and blocked, warehouses still burning’. The article was
illustrated by photographs of the bombed-out shells of
apply a point of view already churches and offices, taken the morning after the raid,
‘a sea of smoking rubble’. These terrifying images, were,
existing to a field in which it however, accompanied by a surprising commentary. The
has not been consciously ‘transparent shell’ of a comer building exhibits ‘drama’;
Paternoster Square and Aye Maria Lane are seen as
applied before: the city’ ‘examples of the surprising proportions of air-raid
scenery’; the north of St Paul’s has been transformed into
a ‘grotto’; stone calcined by fire has a ‘peculiar quality’;
‘striking motifs’ are observed in window less arcades.
The article ends by noting ‘the surprising poetry of
destruction: the oddity of a newly bombed interior and
the almost gaiety, like a scene in a French film, of a garden
in next morning’s sunshine’. These were rains looked at
‘with an artist’s eye’, as architecture in their own right,
exhibiting ‘an intensive evocative atmosphere’, to be
admired ‘frankly for their own beauty’. This was the
Picturesque allied to the terrible Sublime, and pressed
into the service of visual re-educatic n with a vengeance.
These articles were to anticipate many pieces devoted,
on the one hand, to the theory of the Picturesque, and on
the other to Townscape. Hastings, under the pseudonym
Ivor de Wolfe, wrote on Townscape, basing his theory on
Uvedale Price’s ‘An Essay on the Picturesque’ (1794),
prefacing a pictorial essay by Gordo n Cullen, entitled
‘Townscape Casebook’, the beginnings of Cullen’s powerful
role as popular illustrator of the principles. Pevsner wrote
on the Picturesque, countering Basil Taylor’s assertion
that it represented ‘an imperfect vis on’, and claiming
that the Modern Movement itself had its roots in the
aesthetic and demonstrating his thesis by reference to
Le Corbusier’s informal grouping of houses at Stuttgart.
Hastings’s article on Townscape, was unambiguous:
‘The movement that used to be called Functionalism has
developed an inner schism in wThich one party [figurehead
Le Corbusier] has moved towards the rational or classic
or crystalline solution; the other [Frank Lloyd Wright]
towards the romantic or, as he would say, organic [...]
There is a third movement so far not isolated by the critics
[...] might be called English or Radical since it belongs to
neither of the above categories [...] the war cry ‘irregular’
this needs a ‘case-book’ like the case book of common law.
An aesthetic theory had been presen ted with the claim
that it was as English as the ‘common law’ of the country.
That such a theory was implicitly counter - if not
Postmodern, was demonstrated by the furious response
of Alan Colquhoun to Pevsner’s claim that Le Corbusier
himself was influenced by the Picturesque; Colquhoun
retorted Pevsner’s Le Corbusier was an entirely visual
fabrication, and owed nothing to the internal ideational
content of the architecture. But Colquhoun was himself
working out of the image of Le Corbu sier fashioned by
Colin Rowe —that of a ‘Modernist’ manipulating the
geometries of Palladian plans and the imbricated
techniques of Mannerist facades within a vocabulary
A B I J A N U A R Y 2012 81
THEORY
F re d K o e tte r prop osed th e oppositional n atu re of Rowe and K o etter’s Collage City
n o tio n o f th e a rc h ite c t to Townscape, appears less abrupt. Indeed, as John
as b ric o le u r, co n n e c tin g
M acA rthur has recently dem onstrated, the sim ilarities
th e a o s th e tic s o f m a k in g
c itie s w ith th e a e s th e tic s
betw een a visual theory of urban com position from ground Whra m o li n b a
n " .me of Ihr pretbrat in England," y oftm do, how tar ore
they echoing Ilir aewtilUents of III.' Pi.
o f a r c h ite c tu r a l style. level (Cullen’s Townscape) and a visual theory based iso \ ta n «*«• A ir thry r
wn-ptrd rode f Mow M idi l
nniaday* fhr oorcptixl COWVMtM
T h is m a rk e d th e begin nin g on aerial photography and figure-ground plans (Rowe’s * i the nmlornt help «r *-
o f th e 'n e w ' th e o r y o f Collage City) are m ore striking th an th eir differences. k-huuk n hrv v|»-LrMi.nii.
mn. lint a*
•• every fiuhb
guhle-buok ie
- . . . . . . -.'redale Price. It u one of the prmriptea tli»l <
«j«« by every traveller, planner. artist Mid heal inhabitant. because
P o s tm o d e rn is m , w h ich In this context, it is logical to find R obert V enturi’s first il ha* year* .if tradition and preredrnl behind it.
I Hour ran make or spoil the ptettinr** of it village. And it
w a s e n th u s ia s tic a lly Hear from louritfV rxpcrirorr. and flora eunanloit pud* Im *
article published under the rubric Townscape in th e May leading that to d a y ax rrcgm ar. or naintmance. three d»tilwt
tvprv id pirtun-Miur colour in gmuw of budding*.
coded and d issec ted I. An unvaried, nr ktllr-varying. minor thnaighratl thr group.
by C h a rle s J e n c k s
1953 issue of th e AR. E n titled ‘The Campidoglio: A Case ■hut lias a cion
X t'ok ai is that ai
Study’, Venturi’s thesis was entirely visual, and concerned lor white) tha
S Sentimental pain to * ' colour*.
0*iun uf thr Ant group air round m all tlmar villages limit mainly
w ith the way the character of Michelangelo’s form alising of Ileal materials, o? any age. Hie local material* echo thr clo u r uf
- thr airfare tw geological feature of the m-ighhtmrhoo.1. ^Stone,
whether vandslonr or granitr. repeat, die c tu n r of neighbouring
of th e Campidoglio had been ‘injured’ by ignorance of th e qusrnrs. track* and Held wall. ; Umber frame cm adrurita with
hrak or |diwtrr filling in wxwllaml .tislnct* .-chore the*® *"?**
hw* »nd tilled aw l; brick ami flint buddings in .Iwtnct* where chalk
principle th a t ‘the architect has a responsibility tow ard •0.1 Hay eoovTTgc. rrtlret the o n e light that ghoue, freon the IHnis
lying in chalky ptouglml A dds; and v. on. th e chief charneteretie
*< Uni type of idctumopir village n lluit thrrr arc no violent cofcmr
th e landscape, which he can subtly enhance or impair, for omtimts with the surixam.li.qp: the v.llagc h»k> m t t i t h-d
*w-»n fn.m the *uil. IU beauty spring* hum dm f*,'t ,h“*
we see in perceptual wholes and th e introduction of any interference with nature t* camouflaged fnan the start, and
By the Editor
Vt}Km
in* of llu. country
■ d a n .to th tafc k m tk tk m hwidigkl eudMAII.V It ea raking loo mini,
‘•f liini 10 vaprtt bun In put In. aturt on
hroil of ritrmaliumil impwathin in line of Town and Country T Uniting MAHS Him. room! llte Ihaw i. a pirtun
etch itret on M.»l of On under aialira have team lotion Signtliranl indeed « that
forgotten Ihut there n o a lime a linn, change of name (which tiaik place durui* Iut rvmrr nweialamn.
not nt nil km* ago when from Chiroi , l---------, WM.j tejnxmiMna aa it • on the If Ihw armimcnl b nglit. mu id tin ulal
Vienna the nichitcct, the deni,-net. Ihr hy the mind doctrinaire of plan Otir.li.nii the ptofrMtonal Idannrr ha. to
mftMunn mol the " art-lover " looked upon ning Indira that V.me'lung n a n tg with '•ah liimaeIf In day b : Car I Aral a picture
England «» the headquarter* of an eathrtte .1. i '• jdnit Sinnrl long r , It la Ihat Will give toy nun tcrhmrnl frltow
revolution It nan the tune nf Vagary's At u phyiN-al vJi linn to t minify men a vivid impte.oini of ike (oral
(mttaan ami Moma'a, Crane'a, Voyacya ming rail of Ihr Inlnatnal thmga nauing In them, if the) give me llw
•mi Markinliah . iltMgu. ; of the Ktlma- i« aboul aa rlhclctit aa the rhanee I ark f t. Hut Irliav hr ran itu Ihnt
entt ami the Iho ................ il In the IIncur final d early Ihr planner lunar If aunt I a n a partner
Heal hnia ami , And by thr word ptttmn- mrwul Iriunllv
/ , on il hr la - • picture , a ptrturr of how hw limn will
in n prolion In put aunielliing r h ‘ in ita talk For tku b the natural way people
tdaci the nnah-rn planner will wit be ihtth up un llw way liny thriiiarlci* will
llalrnetl to when lie eapeara the fatally lod Thr (harden fit} propugai.l. pnivbfc-d
of the garden <ity idea In ila dny it jn*l thia. a pMnre , hut we do mil think II
hnd Hie virtue* of ita hniilalnuia ; it minted Inn much In aay tin t few itii gwrHeuwIty
a auUd picture of wreil-brtng. tiftlier too lamina ham any concept me of Ihe way
Though the oral of thou
aiehiterta hare hy
I
highly euloured nor too high falw m’ fur her mean Iti.nga to look. W« think non!
Hill Brown to hilrh lot waggon to Aa a toww-pianlam an Ihrmwlvra ponied and
areejMe.l atork in in 'I it gained (be naliiamlear, m rather rmharmaard hy their lock id nalwUe > « « .
mentan urn ami t< •hr national eye The picture nay be their tiuUbbl. I., moorrle i.ualf* in thr
dull people all over Europe « one in that it ia an over-aln plulrn M b f a ere what appear t.. be iirmnuiilalde
their aetivilm, arm agamat clear. clear rnmrgl to he rlnnrni. in any town plan quaint bin.
background of iti<-lropoht> •• far the modem a lentiAe lew bit*, inunumenla Iraltli lull InuldMiga,
middle . la., duffed ahlrteiii haa failed to provide an abort huildinga. Rot Stocki. iniilvidiinl
rcvnbiiinmiry Mooli of whnt they elaal nllernativc picture comparable In raliam, • ottagra. ete.. etc.
waa dune In hrlu Rally Brown, the Little vivalnvaa or aunpttoity. Iinogtii an Yet and tile purpmr nf Ihn article i. to
Man. and BUI Brown. tl-------L- rvhihitiun in which two model, on leant il iail three t> an aapert of th»
live a deeent life in de r iatlre wldrh wwtua iu hair been Wu-apla-
.bly ovmbwki d by town plannerv II la the
by-product of their lakmn a kind of Iaei. obi mum In forngaa n and Inatieiaiaa,
popular im-ture lone that oonaulorably dn i u t n national peciuremakmg aplMude
ioetrd the original .warn) of the ideal n u b among in. and him done for eentunra.
‘ " “ » Brown*, if they In /Vforragar TVor*. croh-cd on tho bland
eaHy m llw eightimUi ceutuey aiul umtotml
, waa a world of all over Kurnpe muml aboul I MSI, a uuile
dent little bud haunted itreeta. craiv- inmmtakable rnitmual pant id rlew
quiltcd with arnu - Tudor or acini • aocrled itaelf. Il waa eiqavaanl «l Unit
Voyaey or (latrrj aenu-tieorgun cottage* tkchniieiv in landarapm* improiwnienta nf
ami cot Iage garden. If England were good, private gnmuda ami country calater, and
it wa* hinied, all Ihe Htvwna miglit in tin- though in the mnctccnlh oentury certain
courar nf time ami provided of count they of living dona not really eliange. w uilever ml ita eouientiona weir apukrai to Ulr town
remained rtgrdlv rrametahlr. eapeet to rani Idr (lintion may any And ai Bill Brown r piarv. the wvil to de. luburh anil the
up in tome Garden City. Juat aa *U good guc* toe the ideal he know#, hrnmar ‘ihat he garden rity. there were in (nrma w iMwued
Ameneana when they die are auppoaed to want* a a pletuer that maker troae o Iran. aa to polity one in aaying that true
go to Pam. to Engliahinen if they were It im't that he n a fool ; hr » quite lyctureaque thcorv hat nn-rr Iwen applied
clean might be demwd fit for Lrlrhwurth capable of imagining Ihr cnmpiint i*a in
For town planner* of that day tire garden hervnt iu plaiinmg. even of making m rrifirr* Wl.nl wi' i roll; nerd lo do now. Ibb
city become u Sign and n Symbol, and it ia for the greater good of Ihe greater cumber, article auggeata. it to rckurml the Inn
atill the dream of the Little Man, kept but he cannot, he feel*, hr raprrtrd 1.1do hb theory of lie Pinturraque atul apply a
alight in Ida breaat, aa it waa klmlled and port without Inin* given an Idea, a pretty point nf view already ranting to a told m
turned, by the Garden Cities Awn union ,U, g .k.l il H .11 L..U. ... i.'. which It lioa not bent .enm nilv apiiiled
rr the ideal of prnfeaaiooal a picture of the kind of wi before ; Me rtfg. Thia will dchiaod no
t b no longer even the .dannrr will make and up iKVahaUun in taatr The only diflleulty
r of the Garden Citree Ween given nothing letw> r ally b that the ptrturewqua d ia w lH of
COLLAGECITY
Colin Row*
Frwt Ko*tt*r